A Christmas Shopping Disaster
by Aprilicity
Summary: The demigods decide to go Christmas shopping. As expected, everything goes horribly wrong. One shot.


**Here's a little Christmas-themed one shot that I thought you guys might like. Not exactly my best work, but I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Thanks so much to Queen Quicksilver for making the epic cover! However, the original pictures weren't made by her.**

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_A Christmas Shopping Disaster_

**_Disclaimer: I once wrote a letter to Rick Riordan, asking if he could give me all the rights to PJO/HOO for Christmas. He never replied. (Not that I blame him)_**

"I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included." -Bernard Manning

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The moment Hazel stepped through the doors, she immediately knew that everything was about to go horribly wrong.

Tropical Paradise was a huge mall, with at least five floors and an endless assortment of stores. She glanced at her friends. Percy, with an arm around Annabeth, was staring at the massive glass dome above their heads. He probably wasn't listening as Annabeth went on and on about the "unique architecture". Leo had his face pressed against the glass of a sweet shop. Jason and Piper had already wandered into a nearby clothes store. Hazel gripped Frank's hand a little bit tighter, and her boyfriend smiled down at her.

The mall scared the young girl. It was not only colossal, but she didn't understand most of what she was seeing. Frank and Leo had both tried to bring her up to date, but there were just some things that she couldn't understand. She just hoped that she wouldn't be separated from her friends in a place like this.

They were here to go Christmas shopping, which was against Chiron's advice. The centaur knew that there was no stopping them, and sent them off with a few grave warnings. Not that any of them had been listening.

"I think we're already lost," Percy said.

Hazel agreed with him. They were most likely going to cause a huge disaster and end up not buying a single thing.

"How are we going to pay for anything?" Jason asked. He and Piper had returned.

Annabeth rummaged through her shoulder bag and fished out a silver credit card. "Chiron said not to spend it all."

Leo snorted. "I don't think he knows us very well."

"So what do we do first?" Piper asked.

Again, Annabeth looked through her bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "This is a list of the people who we've decidied to give gifts to."

Percy read over her shoulder. "Rachel? What do we give Rachel?"

Leo shrugged. "A crystal ball? Fortune telling cards?"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"She likes art," Percy offered.

"A paint set, maybe?" Jason suggested.

"Let's see if we find anything in here." Annabeth led them into the supermarket.

"Hey, check this out!" Leo was pointing at a giant gumball machine by the supermarket entrance. "I want a gumball!"

"Careful!" Frank warned. "It looks pretty unsta-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. The glass ball rolled off and barelled towards Frank. He barely managed to dodge it. The ball continued rolling, down the aisles and causing a few shoppers to jump out of the way. A loud crash, followed by some violent swearing, could be heard in the distance.

"Uh oh," Leo said.

"Brilliant, Valdez," Percy groaned. He turned to Annabeth. "Why'd we even take him along?"

"Hey, kids!" The seven demigods turned to see a security guard heading towards them. He seemed pretty hostile.

"Run?" Jason turned to his friends.

They all bolted to the center plaza. In front of a grand fountain, a man was playing on a grand piano. He was accompanied by a woman with a violin. A small crowd had gathered to watch them.

"Over there!"

Hazel glanced backwards and saw three security guards hot on their trail. Suddenly, watery arms shot out of the fountain and grabbed one of the guards. Nearby mortals started panicking. Hazel looked around for Frank. Her boyfriend had turned into a bear, and was chasing another guard into a nearby bookstore. The rest of them ran outside into the parking lot, pursued by the third guard.

Leo blasted a fireball in his direction. It sailed above the mortal's head, and hit...

A truck.

A very, very, very big one.

"We need to get out of here!" Hazel screamed.

"What about Frank and Percy?" Annabeth said.

Fortunately, the two boys came running out of the doors. They were followed by a large crowd of screaming mortals. Frank had turned back into his human form.

"Fire!" Leo waved his hands at the burning truck. "That thing's gonna blow!"

Jason lead the way, blindly running away from the fire. They managed to make it to the other side of the street.

"Over here!" Piper ducked behind a large white van. Hazel and the others followed suit. They barely managed to aviod the deafening explosion that followed. Hazel gripped Frank's arm tightly.

Percy was the first to recover. He slowly peeked over the van's roof. He gulped. "Uh, you guys had better take a look at this."

Reluctantly, Hazel stepped out from behind their hiding place. She gasped.

"Holy Hera..." Annabeth breathed.

Tropical Island mall now had a huge gaping hole on its right side. Part of the fountian had been blown to bits and water streamed out of it. But as far as Hazel could tell, nobody had died. She couldn't feel any souls travelling down into the Underworld.

"Oops," Leo said.

All his friends turned to face him.

_"Oops?!" _Percy repeated.

"Is it even possible for you to _not _blow things up?" Hazel asked him.

"Once again," Piper said. "You've made your way to tomorrow's headlines."

"I think he deserves an award this," Jason said.

"How about 'Most Insane Arsonist of the Year'? That fits." Frank said.

Annabeth just shook her head. "We didn't even get a _single _present."

"Look on the bright side," Leo grinned. He fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a tiny charred ball.

"At least I got my gumball."

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**I hope you guys had fun reading that! Think of it as my Christmas gift to all you amazing people.**

**Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!**

**-Aprilicity**


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